After Rocky Start, Institute Regroups

HEBRON — Nearly 18 months ago, a new learning center came to Connecticut with promises and hope for young adults with emotional and learning disabilities.

Today, school officials acknowledge that some mistakes have been made along the way as the Allen Institute Center for Innovative Learning has tried to establish itself as a place that can provide educational and life-skills opportunities for its special needs clientele.

The institute is in Hebron at Camp Hemlocks, a 160-acre wooded property owned by Easter Seals. The Easter Seals camp and conference center is dedicated to the needs of campers with disabilities.

The Allen Institute bills itself as a place for students, about 18 to 26 years old, who have learning disabilities that prevent them from being a part of the mainstream college experience. They can achieve associate degrees through online courses and develop social skills through living in a college campus setting. The institute also offers a remedial program to help students form a foundation for living on their own.

The institute came to the state in June 2003 after a successful 10-year run in upstate New York, where it was known as the Center at Old Forge. Academically, the program was well regarded, but its distance from cities, hotels, airports and hospitals in the Adirondack Mountains made it difficult to attract enough students to keep it economically viable.

School officials were looking for a better location, and Easter Seals officials were looking for a way to better use their facility, which was not used much during the school year.

It seemed like a marriage made in heaven. But some parents whose children attended the institute last year had bitter experiences. One student overdosed on her medication, and a sexual assault case resulted in the arrest of another student.

Parents also said that some programs, learning materials and vital personnel that were in place in New York inexplicably weren't brought to Connecticut.

``The school lost its momentum when it moved,'' said a parent who requested anonymity. Her child no longer attends the institute.

Another parent whose child has also moved on was critical of what she said was the institute's lack of supervision of young adults with special needs who have not had much experience socializing away from home, and what she saw as a lack of educational programming.

``They're warehousing these people at $36,000 apiece,'' she said, referring to the tuition and boarding expenses.

Several parents said that they felt left out of the loop on issues concerning their children's safety, academics and off-campus extracurricular activities.

John Quinn, president of Easter Seals of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and of the Allen Institute, acknowledged recently that there have been growing pains but added that staff members have responded to issues brought forth by parents and students.

``For the first year we had more public problems than expected,'' he said. ``It concerned me but it didn't deter me. They have sexual assaults at Yale. That doesn't mean that Yale isn't a good place to go to school.''

Quinn said he realized during the second semester of the last school year that a lack of communication between administrators and staff, parents and students had become a serious issue and that the model used in New York wasn't working. To remedy that situation, Quinn said, the school developed an ``Allen Institute Triangle'' to improve communication and made other changes.

``Maybe there wasn't enough oversight,'' Quinn said. ``As I saw decisions being made I finally said, `Couldn't this be done differently?'''

Through the triangle method, Quinn said, all the parties involved -- students, parents and teachers -- have a better idea of what the expectations are from each other. He said the school has instituted a stricter policy that calls for students who are disruptive to sign behavioral contracts that if not fulfilled could result in suspension or expulsion. Quinn said the institute is also screening its clientele more closely.

Academically, Quinn said, the institute has begun a partnership with Charter Oak State College for online courses and is taking some students to participate in classes at Manchester Community College and to Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.

``The courses are actually harder now'' than they were with the school's former online partner, Herkimer County Community College in upstate New York, Quinn said.

Aside from improved educational opportunities, Quinn said, there has been a major shift in staffing and that some of the students last year had more serious emotional issues than the institute was prepared to handle.

Students with serious issues weren't invited back, and the return rate for students who were invited back this year was about 80 percent, Quinn said.

``We're more cognizant of who's coming in the door,'' he said. ``Some students weren't invited back for obvious reasons.''